Gardai make 400 arrests at dance event

Gardai made 400 drugs-related arrests during Saturday's Creamfields dance event at Punchestown racecourse, and, according to Supt Tom Neville of the Naas Garda, the hard-line policing plan worked a treat.

Most of the punters who were busted got off lightly. Their stashes (consisting mostly of small quantities of ecstasy or hash) were confiscated and their names and addresses taken, but they were allowed to remain and enjoy the entertainment.

About 10 people were detained for suspected drug-dealing.

It was intended to be the cream of dance festivals featuring the cream of international talent, but anyone looking for a "top buzz" at Creamfields was in danger of being carted off and charged with drug offences. More than 25,000 fans had flocked to the racecourse, near Naas, Co Kildare, to see a different kind of jockey, the kind that spins records rather than races horses.

Inflatable aliens, blipvert-speed visuals, whistles, dummies, dayglo sticks and luminous face paint were the norm as the young crowd enjoyed the mild weather and ferocious techno rhythms.

The bill was topped by The Chemical Brothers, probably the biggest dance act in the world, and certainly one of the loudest. The Manchester duo shook the main outdoor stage with their trademark block-rocking beats, but if you stood too close to the speaker stacks you were in danger of going home with a mad buzz in your ear.

Also playing on the main stage was Moloko, who had a worldwide dance hit last year with Bring It Back, and whose singer, Roisin Murphy, originally comes from Co Wicklow.

Sadly, Moloko do not have enough songs of the calibre of Bring It Back, so their set was patchy and somewhat uninspired.

In contrast, Basement Jaxx were firing on all cylinders, delivering their UK house hits, Rendez-Vu and Jump And Shout, and bringing on a dazzling troupe of feathered Mardi Gras dancers for their Latin rhythm finale, Bingo Bango.

If the main outdoor arena seemed strangely uncrowded, that was because there were four other tented arenas to choose from. Some 6,000 party people crammed into the Cream arena to see superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold, who has been doing his thing for so long now he's practically the Phil Collins of trance.

The Big Beat Boutique/Bugged Out arena featured deep house and breakbeats, but one of the star attractions of the tent, French DJ Laurent Garnier, failed to make an appearance.

Manchester DJ James Holroyd, however, delighted the crowd with a stormy set of tunes, a dry run for his big warm-up slot with The Chemical Brothers later that night.

The home-grown acts were excellent, particularly the Dublin double act of Hugh Scully and Shay Hannon, who hit the decks at the Cream arena.

Also impressive was DJ David Holmes, who took the main stage right after the Chemical Brothers and demonstrated his skill at mixing funky soul breaks with driving house beats.

Things almost went sour for Creamfields, however. A late attempt to stop the gig by a Labour councillor, Mr Tommy Grimes, in Kells, resulted in about £300,000 in lost ticket sales, according to Justin Green of the event's promoters, MCD.

"It caused a lot of uncertainty about whether the event would go ahead," said Mr Green.

"We are happy the courts decided in our favour, and we will be looking at taking steps to recover the lost revenue." He was also satisfied with the Garda crackdown at the event.

"We worked very closely with the Garda to ensure there was no anti-social activity at Creamfields. We don't want anti-social people coming to our events and 97 per cent of the fans don't want them there either."